Is Zondo’s anti-graft crusade political grandstanding?

FORMER Chief Justice Raymond Zondo recently surprised many South Africans when he miraculously turned his back against President Cyril Ramaphosa on corruption and ethical conduct.

- BHEKI MNGOMEZULU

His main concern was that it pained him to swear in Ministers he had made findings against while he was chairing the State Capture Commission. This was seen as an indictment of both Ramaphosa and the ANC.

But was Zondo genuine when he raised this concern, or was he grandstanding so that he could regain public trust following accusations that he was not objective in executing his mandate — something that resulted in the 2021 unrests in KZN and Gauteng?

The answer to this question depends on whether one holds former Chief Justice Zondo in high regard or perceives him as someone who used his position as the chairperson of the Commission to either settle political scores or fight other people’ battles.

To get a better sense of the context of Zondo’s public statement, we need to go back into the history of the Zondo Commission and related matters.

In January 2018, former President Jacob Zuma was instructed by a court of law to comply with Advocate Thuli Madonsela’s recommendation that a Commission of Inquiry should be appointed to investigate the state of capture. She went further to propose that the person to chair this Commission must be appointed by the Chief Justice, not Zuma. This was done.

Many things went wrong during the Commission's sitting. Zondo was accused of lacking impartiality. A case in point was his cordial interaction with President Ramaphosa, which was different from his engagement with Zuma. When Zuma felt ill-treated during his first appearance, he refused to return to the Commission. Zondo took the matter to the Constitutional Court, which tried Zuma in absentia and sent him to jail for fifteen months. This resulted in the July 2021 unrest.